KUALA LUMPUR, Mar 16 – The introduction of a weekly ceiling price for petrol and diesel will give consumers a better grasp of the retail trend compared with the monthly practice at present. Second Finance Minister Datuk Seri Johari Abdul Ghani said the introduction of the weekly ceiling price mechanism can also avoid drastic changes due to the shorter period of calculation and any changes will be in stages. 

“If we wait a month, sometimes it (petrol and diesel prices) can see a sudden rise of up to 25 sen. When it rises so much, it is hard to make any adjustment and the government is forced to absorb part of it as subsidy,” he added. Johari told reporters this after delivering a talk titled, “Malaysia’s Economic Challenges and Policy Implications” organised by MIDF Research here today.

He said although the ceiling price was determined by the government, it was up to the oil companies to sell the petrol and diesel below it. Meanwhile, on the rise in interest rates in the United States (US) yesterday, Johari said there had been no significant outflow of capital identified since the announcement.

“The majority of our investors are now in for the long haul, so any fluctuation in US interest rates will not impact them. However, the government is giving its attention to the indication by the US Federal Reserve on raising interest rates two more times this year,’ he added.

Johari said the move is in line with the government of President Donald Trump to bring back investments to support the infrastructure spending in the country amounting to an estimated US$1 trillion. He added that this is the reason why there has been a capital flight from Asian countries to the United States. — Bernama

Pocket News

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.